Navy adds to digital imaging deal for submarines

A contract modification with Lockheed continues a program to give periscopes a sharable video capacity.

The Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin a $126.3 million contract modification to provide digital imaging and other services in support of a program to help protect the service’s submarine fleet.

The program, the Integrated Submarine Imaging System, also known as ISIS, puts visual and digital imaging into submarine periscopes, providing all-weather, high-resolution imagery for Los Angeles, Seawolf, Ohio and Virginia Class submarines. The system makes use of existing components while providing an architecture that allows for future upgrades, according to a contract announcement by the Defense Department.

The Navy awarded Lockheed a $92.8 million contract for ISIS in 2009 and has modified it several times since. It replaced the optical system used in periscopes with one that uses high-res cameras and fiber-optic imagery to feed into a digital video display that can be shown on displays throughout the submarine, while giving operators the ability to enhance the image.

Work under the contract modification is expected to be completed by September 2017.